Retelling "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes

The story "Thank You, M'am" by Langston Hughes is about a boy that tried to steal some money of a lady so he can buy a pair of shoes he wanted. This boy received a lesson by the lady that he wanted to steal her purse and also the boy at the final got the money he was searching for. The lady was very kind with him and he act ashamed of what he tried to do.

            The story begins with the boy trying to get advantage of the lady that was walking alone at 11pm. He tried to snatch her purse but he failed because the purse broke and he fell. The woman kicked him, grabbed him and asked him: “What did you want to do it for?”, and he lie saying: “I didn’t aim to.” When the kid said sorry so he can be released, the woman told him: “Um-hum! And your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain’t you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?” and the boy answered “No’m,”. Then the woman drags him to her house instead of calling the police. When they arrived to her house she told him to wash his face, to comb his hair and told him that she understands him because at that age she also wanted things she couldn't get and had done bad things too. She changes her attitude towards him showing that she understand and that was comfortable with him at her house leaving the door open and her purse near him without looking at him and her purse. She cooked for both of them and talked about other things. They talked about her life and not about the incident, his family or his life. And when they finished eating she gave him 10 dollars so he can buy the shoes he wanted (the reason he tried to steal money). Finally when he was leaving he tried to say "Thank you, m'am" but she shut the door and never saw her again.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UMrBMTglPxc

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=eHyhYa9CQcQ

Reflection "Use of Force" by Williams Carlos Williams

In "Use of Force" by Williams Carlos Williams we can see the difficulties that a doctor had trying to find the problem of a sick girl that he visited. The little girl was very aggressive and did not let anybody to treat her. She was hiding her sickness forcing the doctor to use a different strategy to finally found the sore throat that she was hiding; he had to use his strength against the girl.

            Some people think that the doctor should not have done that. The truth is that indeed it could result in a worst outcome. Using his strength can be danger because he could hurt her in a very severe way. But I think that if he takes control of his strength and use it very careful is okay, because that was for her own good. If the doctor does not had use his force he would never noticed her sore throat that she was hiding. If the doctor had not noticed her sore throat she would probably died.

            Also I think that the fault that the doctor had to use his force to find her illness is because of the parents. We can see this in this text: “Both parents answered me together, No . . . No, she says her throat don't hurt her. Does your throat hurt you? added the mother to the child. But the little girl's expression didn't change nor did she move her eyes from my face. Have you looked? I tried to, said the mother, but I couldn't see.” Like we can see the girl is very brave and her parents didn't put control over her. She was doing whatever she wanted. Her parents were dealing with her they weren't forcing her. I think that the fact that the parents didn't put control over their daughter, the attitude of the girl and the fact that it was for her own good are good reasons for the doctor to use his force in this situation.

   

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vBmeaC08l3Q

Reflection of "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

"Girl" by "Jamaica Kincaid is a story with a lot of gender roles. Is a story about a mother teaching her daughter how to life her life according to her gender. In this story the mother tells the daughter how to do chores and how to behave.

            I think that a mother is supposed to teach her children how to be a good person and like the mother in the story teach her children how to cook, clean, sew, iron, do medicine and a lot of useful thing so they can help others and also be prepared. But I don't see proper that a mother teach a children according to his gender, I think that those things are useful to both genders. Also I don't think that a mother or father are supposed to teach a children how to behave like in their love life, characteristics, and also the way they look or act. I think a parent should be a good example of a good person with good behaviors so they children learn how to be like them, but not telling them how to do the stuff.

In my case my mother teach my brother and I to do everything but sometimes my mother say to me that I'm the one that should cook and clean more often because I'm the girl. Also my mother complains when I'm "too loud" for example when I laugh too much and cough too loud and in a repetitive times because she said that she have not raised a boy and that I have to be more delicate. Also threat me saying that my boyfriend is going to leave me because of my "bad" and "boyish" behaviors. And of course I do not agree with that stuff she says. Although my mother says those kinds of things she has been single a lot of years and had learned to do everything in the house. She paints the entire house by herself, she change the bus wheels and fixes everything in the house by herself; she's an example for me that we don't need a man to do anything. She also says that to me. In other example one time I had a stepmother that was always complaining because I didn't wear any girl accessories, like to watch WWE on the TV and like to play sports and video games. Eventually she took away my games and made me wear a lot of girly stuff.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zoCl-TNXnq0

My Journal Cover Images

The teacher of my English class told us to bring a journal to the class where we need to write almost every day. She also told us that we need to decorate our journals with some images that most represent the title "Culture, Race & Relationships" by our own world.

In the front I put some pictures about me with the people I love. I put pictures of me with my 2 best friends and other pictures of my other friends. I put pictures of my mother, my father, my brother, and also I put some pictures of me with my boyfriend. Those pictures are representative of my relationships, that's the people I get involved with. And as you can see in my pictures they are from many different races, I have friends that are kind of black and friends that are kind of white; but all of us are raised in the same puertorican culture and get involved very well.

    

Also in the front part I put 2 pictures of my 2 Korean pop concerts in Puerto Rico that I went. I put those pictures because as you can see me as the other fans like another culture different than ours and listen to music of other language no matter if we don't understand at all. I think that even if there are a lot of cultures and races out there we all connect through music. And that's another example that no matter your race or culture we can get a good relationship. That's why I put on the back of my journal, some pictures about different cultures and races that in some how we become one and share our culture with others.

I put at the top/back of my journal one picture of the 3 different types of traditional dresses of Korea, China and Japan to let know that even people that are very near and are classified as a part of "Asia" still have things to share with each other of their culture because they are different. And finally I put a picture of the 3 different races that made up my race, the race of my island Puerto Rico. The "taíno", the Spanish and the African are the 3 different cultures and races that combine up and let us now share the beautiful things that we inherit from them, the things that are now our culture.